Lucille G. Cabral
Dr. William J. Kelly
English 102.A15 Composition II: Writing about Literature
February 11, 2015
Journal Entry Two
In “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” Ernest Hemingway tells a story about despair and loneliness although the title represents the opposite of nothingness. While the feeling of nothingness is chaotic, confusing and dark, the Café, where the story takes place, is clean, organized, and well lighted. One of the characters, the old, deaf man, cannot run away from despair and nothingness, but he can disguise these feelings when he is in a place where he can find cleanliness, organization and light.
The characters of this story represent the theme, which is life as nothingness. The old man and the old waiter represent the idea of loss and nothingness, and the young waiter represents the people who don’t care about others’ feelings, and other’s story of life.
There are many important symbols throughout this story. The cafe as being the opposite of Hemingway’s idea of life; the deafness of the old man making him lonelier than others and that he does not have a wife, only a niece who saved him from death. His niece was someone who brought light to his dark life and she is the one who stopped him from finishing his meaningless life. We learned that the old man tried to kill himself, but failed, we understand that not even death can save us which is why the old man goes to the café; it’s his only escape. When we learn that the younger waiter is eager to go home to his wife, and at the same time the old man does not have his wife anymore, we understand happiness is transitory, which is the reason
